A Short History of Classic Games: Chess, Ludo, Carrom, Mahjong, Solitaire and Sudoku

Many of the games we play on phones today are far older than computers. Some have been played for well over a thousand years, passed between countries and changed along the way, before arriving in your browser. This short history of classic board games — plus a few card and puzzle classics — explains where they came from and how they became the games we know.

Historians do not always agree on exact dates, especially for very old games, so where the story is uncertain we say so.

Chess: from India to the whole world

Chess is generally traced back to a game called chaturanga, played in India around the 6th century CE. Its pieces represented the divisions of an ancient army — infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots — which became the pawns, knights, bishops and rooks of today.

From India the game travelled to Persia, where it was known as shatranj, and then across the Arab world and into Europe. The biggest change came in Europe around the end of the 15th century, when the queen and bishop gained their long-range moves. That made games faster and more aggressive, and it is essentially the chess we play now.

Today chess is played by millions of people, and computers have become both strong opponents and patient teachers. You can play the full modern rules in Chess Citadel, and learn the classic finishes in our guide to checkmate patterns.

Ludo: a royal Indian game simplified

Ludo comes from pachisi, a cross-and-circle race game played in India for centuries, in which pieces move around a cross-shaped board according to the throw of cowrie shells. Indian rulers are said to have played it on giant boards laid out in palace courtyards.

In the late 19th century a simplified version with a cubic die was patented in England under the name Ludo — Latin for "I play". It spread around the world as a family game, and today it is hugely popular on phones, especially across South Asia.

Play it in Ludo Lantern, and brush up on the rules of ludo.

Snakes and ladders: a race about good and bad deeds

Snakes and ladders also began in India, where versions of it were played for centuries as a lesson about life. Ladders stood for virtues that lift a person up and snakes for vices that pull them down, so the board was a small sermon as well as a game.

British families took it home in the nineteenth century, dropped most of the moral lessons and kept the fun: a race decided by the die, full of sudden climbs and slides. It is still often the first board game a child learns.

Play it online in Snake Ludu, and see the snakes and ladders rules and house rules.

Carrom: the flicking game of South Asia

Carrom's exact origins are uncertain, but the game is generally believed to have developed in South Asia, and it has been a favourite in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and nearby countries for generations. Players flick a heavy striker to knock lighter coins into four corner pockets, with the red queen as the prize piece.

As the game spread, players formed national associations, and an international federation was founded in 1988 to agree on common rules for tournaments. Try it in Carrom Comet and read how to play carrom.

Mahjong and mahjong solitaire

Mahjong is a four-player tile game that took shape in China in the 19th century, with tiles in suits such as bamboo, characters and circles, plus winds and dragons. It became popular far beyond China in the 1920s.

Mahjong solitaire is a different game that uses the same tiles. Instead of building winning hands, one player removes matching pairs of free tiles from a stacked layout. It first appeared as a computer game in the early 1980s and became a favourite on home computers and, later, phones. Play it in Lotus Mahjong and learn the rules and strategy.

Solitaire: patience for one

Card games for a single player — often called patience — were described in Europe by the late 18th century. Dozens of variants developed in the 1800s.

The variant most people call "solitaire" today is Klondike. Its name is often linked to the Klondike Gold Rush in Canada in the 1890s, although the exact story is not certain. Klondike became world-famous when it was included on home computers in the early 1990s, and spider solitaire, a two-deck variant, followed in its footsteps. Enjoy both in Solitaire Sunrise and Spider Solitaire Sunrise.

Sudoku: a modern classic

Sudoku is much younger than the others. The modern puzzle was published in an American puzzle magazine in 1979 under the name "Number Place". In the 1980s it was popularised in Japan, where it received the name sudoku, roughly "single number". In the mid-2000s, newspapers around the world began printing it daily and it became a global craze.

Play freshly generated puzzles in Lantern Sudoku, and learn the techniques in how to solve sudoku.

Pool and 8-ball

Cue sports grew out of outdoor ball-and-stick games in Europe, which moved indoors onto tables several centuries ago. 8-ball, with its solids, stripes and black 8, developed in the United States in the early 20th century and is now one of the most widely played pool games in the world. Play it in Cue Lagoon, and read our 8-ball pool rules.

Why classic games last

What do these games have in common, across centuries and continents?

• Simple rules, deep play. You can learn ludo or four in a row in minutes, yet the best players still improve after years.
• A balance of luck and skill. Dice and shuffles keep games exciting; decisions keep them fair.
• They bring people together. Most were invented to be played face to face — something that one-device two-player modes keep alive on phones today.
• They adapt. Each generation changes the rules a little, from chess's powerful queen to ludo's single die, and now to digital versions with hints and undo.

Explore all of them in our board and card games category, or see our list of free board and card games.

FAQ

What is the oldest board game still played today?

Several very old games are still played, including the Chinese game of go, backgammon-style race games and mancala-style counting games. Among the games in this article, chess has the longest documented history, tracing back to chaturanga in India around the 6th century CE.

Where did ludo come from?

Ludo comes from pachisi, a traditional race game from India that has been played for centuries. A simplified version using a cubic die was patented in England in the late 19th century under the name Ludo, which is Latin for "I play", and it spread worldwide as a family game.

Who invented chess?

No single person invented chess. It developed gradually from chaturanga, an Indian game of around the 6th century CE, and changed as it spread through Persia, the Arab world and Europe. The modern rules, including the powerful queen, appeared in Europe around the late 15th century.

Is mahjong solitaire the same as mahjong?

No. Mahjong is a four-player game from China in which players collect sets of tiles to build a winning hand. Mahjong solitaire is a single-player matching game that uses the same tiles: you remove pairs of matching free tiles until the board is clear.

Why is solitaire called Klondike?

The most popular version of solitaire is called Klondike, a name often linked to the Klondike Gold Rush in northwest Canada in the 1890s. The exact reason for the name is uncertain, but the game was well known by that name in the early 20th century.